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PROFILE
Tequila Cured Salmon
Serves 2 — On the Cover
WHAT YOU WILL NEED
1 pound salmon, skin removed
3 dried chipotles, seeded and stemmed
and broken into small pieces
¼ cup kosher salt
½ cup tequila
HOW TO PREP
Place the chipotle pieces in a spice grinder
and grind until they are smaller. Add the
kosher salt and grind until the chipotle and
salt is blended. Set aside.
Place the salmon in a shallow dish that can
hold it comfortably. Brush the fish with half
of the tequila. Cover and let sit for an hour.
Add the chipotle salt to both sides of the fish,
recover, and let sit for four hours.
Place the fish on a plate lined with enough
cling wrap to cover it. Pour the juices on top
along with the remaining tequila. Wrap the
fish tightly in the plastic wrap and refrigerate
for at least four more hours to overnight.
Unwrap the fish, rinse well, and slice 1-inch
thin.
Serve cold with chimichurri crème fraîche.
Garnish with pickled red onions and sliced raw
radishes. Get the recipe for Aarón Sánchez’s
pickled onions at .
Chimichurri
Crème Fraîche
Makes 1 cup
WHAT YOU WILL NEED
1 cup crème fraîche (available in Rouses
Dairy Department)
1 tablespoon capers, with juice
3 cloves garlic, peeled,
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
½ cups cilantro
¼ cup parsley
¼ cup. oregano
1 tablespoon tarragon
1 tablespoon chives
Juice and zest of ½ lemon
salt to taste
HOW TO PREP
Roughly chop the garlic, capers and all the
herbs, add to a food processor and blend
together with the caper juice and drizzle in
the olive oil. Season with salt and finish with
the lemon juice and zest.
Before serving gently whisk together the
crème fraîche and chimichuri sauce.
months. Darkerañejos and extra añejos stay
in the barrel at least one year. We sampled
blanco, reposada and añejo at Johnny
Sánchez.
“Good tequila isn’t harsh. You’re not going
to make a funny face when you drink it,”
Landrem explained when the glasses
arrived. “You don’t have to shoot it, and you
can skip the lime and salt. Those are just
training wheels.”
Landrem spent the last leg of his trip in
Oaxaca where Rodrigo also acted as guide.
“There were mezcal tours leaving every
minute, but he insisted we avoid them.”
Instead they visited private places tourists
rarely see. “I got a real education in mezcal.”
All tequila is mezcal, but not all mezcal
is tequila. “All Champagne is sparkling
wine, but not all sparkling wine can be
called Champagne. It has to be
produced in the Champagne
region of France. Tequila has to
be produced in certain regions.”
Tequila and mezcal are both
made with agave, but while
tequila can only be made with
blue agave, mezcal can be made
with almost any variety. Tequila
is made with raw agave. Mezcal
is made with roasted agave,
which gives it that smoky flavor.
The agave is roasted in hand-
dug pits filled with volcanic
stone.
You can taste the difference
between each batch of mezcal.
That’s a source of pride and
worry in Oaxaca. “They’re that
religious about their mezcal,”
Landrem explained. “They build
altars to the batches before they
cook. It’s similar to what we do
on St. Joseph’s Day.
Landrem explained the right
way to drink mezcal. “You taste
it once, just sort of swish it
around. Then you taste it again.
The second sip is better. The
third sip is perfect.” At Johnny Sánchez,
sliced oranges and chili salt or worm salt
are served alongside shots of tequila and
mezcal. “They kiss everything they eat and
drink in Mexico with a little acid and a little
salt. That’s probably where our American
idea of salt, tequila and lime came from.”
The worm salt or “sal de gusano” is made
from salt ground with dried Oaxacan chiles
and toasted maguey worms—edible worms
that live and feed on the agave plants. A few
mezcal producers have been known to place
a maguey worm at the bottom of the bottle,
probably for marketing purposes.
Mexicans certainly aren’t afraid to eat bugs.
“They eat grasshoppers like we eat peanuts.”
If you’re feeling a bit buggy after a round
of mezcal at Johnny Sánchez, order the
grasshopper guacamole.
Miles Landrem
“Both are made with agave, but tequila and mezcal are very
different spirits,” explains principal bartender Sara Rowden. Taste
for yourself. Recipes for Johnny Sanchez’s tequila and mezcal
cocktails are available at .